Chain schools better for easy teaching? Lesson prep time etc

Work Teaching English in Taiwan
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I’ve read a fair number of complaints about the larger chain schools, specifically Hess and Kojen, and one of the recurring points that people make is that there isn’t a lot of room for experienced teachers to teach “their way”, and to develop a more thoughtful curriculum, etc.

I have nothing against people doing their job well, and I can absolutely sympathize with a career teacher who feels creatively and professionally stifled. On the other hand, I wonder if for people with different goals, that same “cookie-cutter” environment might actually be a plus?

I am planning on teaching English and studying Mandarin, and I’m well aware of the time-sucking enormity of learning Chinese. I need a job for financial reasons, and I’m going to teach because that’s what’s available. Am I right in thinking that a more established chain school is going to be less demanding in terms of unpaid lesson-planning time?

FWIW, I taught at Aeon in Japan for one year, which is a very large chain of several hundred schools, with its own curriculum and textbooks, and a very standardized lesson planning structure. I taught ~25 classes/week, and probably spent about 10-15 minutes prepping for each one (we had a room of shared lesson materials, which we basically just had to review and occasionally make some new handouts, etc.). I was teaching mainly adults, and my prep for kids classes was a bit different.

Anyway, I guess this is a two part question…

  1. Is there a significant difference in the lesson-prep time demands teaching at Hess vs. your local Super Happy Kids Bunny Village School?

  2. How much time do you generally spend on prep/grading/whatever?

Thanks!

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I have never worked for a chain school. I probably never will either. I have been quite happy working for a smaller privately run school on salary. However, I have applied and interviewed at many chain schools. Here is my take on it:

Per class I would recommend at least a half hour of prep-time each day. Familiarize yourself with lessons at least the day before if not sooner, have a weekly lesson plan done in advance. If you dont go to class prepared, you will just be babysitting.

The following applies to: Happy Marian, Columbia, Sunshine, and Giraffe English “chain” schools.

Prep time:
All of the above schools stated to me in the interviews that prep time would be required. They expected a minimum of 30 minutes unpaid prep time per day.

Curriculum:
For these chain schools, the curriculum was set, books provided, and even a basic outline for the lesson plan provided. All they wanted me to do was show up 30 minutes before class, read over the material, and teach/play with the kids.

Extras (Unpaid time):
Sunshine and Giraffe both stated that they needed me to write assessments for the students each week after class. That would easily take 30 minutes to and hour. That time was clearly stated as unpaid time. Some schools will ask you to stay and “help” or be part of “team meetings” off the clock.

My Opinion:
If you want to walk in, play with the kids, pretend to teach something, and then walk out without putting in any time beyond your scheduled work hours and do zero prep…stay away from teaching! You are doing a disservice to those young minds.

You may view teaching as a quick buck or a way to pay the bills, but also keep in mind that teaching is so much more than a job…it is a responsibility too, and a pretty significant one at that. Don’t rob these kids of a good education, a chance to get ahead in life, because you want a quick easy dollar. Take some pride in your work, put in the prep time and honestly teach these children.

By no means accept a job that does not pay for the prep time. If you go hourly, and are paid a wage, then take a job that will pay for your prep hours. If you go salary, schedule your day so that you can work in an honest amount of good prep time to develop good meaningful lessons for your students.

Although those schools I listed above stated unpaid prep-time, I am confident that I could have negotiated paid prep time or a higher hourly rate that would compensate for any unpaid time on the job.

[color=darkred]Do the right thing and be a responsible teacher.[/color]

In regards to learning mandarin and teaching at the same time….I am sure you have read the recent posts about required hours for visa issuing mandarin language schools. The mandatory weekly hours are 15. That is quite a lot. Also remember you need to keep your grades up to keep that visa. That means lots of study time.

Teaching and putting in an honest effort of prep for your classes, plus studying, plus attending mandarin class each day can overwhelm you fast. That won’t be fun for you or the kids you are teaching.

If you do it the other way around and get your visa through your employer and take a lighter load of mandarin classes, things will be much easier for you. Mandarin classes will be more expensive though. Classes for shorter hours almost always are.

Sorry I couldn’t be more of a help with direct advice, I just wanted to give you an honest, upfront, no BS look at what you are getting into here in Taiwan.

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Quarters:
Point taken… I didn’t want to imply that I’m not going to prepare at all for my classes, but rather that I’d much prefer the more time-consuming work to have been done for me. Maybe things are done differently in Taiwan, but I knew teachers at other schools in Japan who were doing A LOT of unpaid prep work, basically because there were no materials provided for many lessons. They were expected to make all sorts of drawings, props, handouts, etc, and were doing it for maybe 15 different lessons a week, which adds up to an extra day’s work. It even varied within my school… one of my coworkers was assigned to teach a new class that no one had made materials for, so he was taking work home on the weekends for a while to create the lesson plans and everything. Definitely unpaid, but required.

Of course, Japan is not Taiwan, and I don’t necessarily know what I’m talking about. I do know that I enjoy teaching, I like kids, and I’m decently good at it. I just want to make sure I’ve got a reasonable workload that will allow me to achieve BOTH of my goals for living in Taiwan.

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[quote=“dong bu ting”]Quarters:
Point taken… I didn’t want to imply that I’m not going to prepare at all for my classes, but rather that I’d much prefer the more time-consuming work to have been done for me. Maybe things are done differently in Taiwan, but I knew teachers at other schools in Japan who were doing A LOT of unpaid prep work, basically because there were no materials provided for many lessons. They were expected to make all sorts of drawings, props, handouts, etc, and were doing it for maybe 15 different lessons a week, which adds up to an extra day’s work. It even varied within my school… one of my coworkers was assigned to teach a new class that no one had made materials for, so he was taking work home on the weekends for a while to create the lesson plans and everything. Definitely unpaid, but required.

Of course, Japan is not Taiwan, and I don’t necessarily know what I’m talking about. I do know that I enjoy teaching, I like kids, and I’m decently good at it. I just want to make sure I’ve got a reasonable workload that will allow me to achieve BOTH of my goals for living in Taiwan.[/quote]

That is good to hear. Taiwan needs less slack off teachers and more teachers with intentions like yours.

I worked for a school that was always adding new “trial” students into the classes. This meant I had to photocopy the pages from the book for that day. I was often given zero heads up about this and was told after class started. School’s copier was also always breaking down; they were short on props, lesson aids, flash cards etc.

I taught at that school for exactly 2 months and then left. So should you if you end up at a school like that. The best thing you ca do is to check out the school you will be teaching at thoroughly. Ask other foreign teachers there how they like it, ask to see the materials, lesson plans, etc. Sit in on a class. You will most likely be asked to do a demo. They are illegal to do- but it is hard to get around it. If you do a demo, and I am not advocating you should, but if you do…it is a perfect time to assess the school’s ability to meet your needs.

I did a demo once, and I shocked the interviewer when I asked to see the books, flash cards, hand outs, roll sheet, and a 5 minute talk with the current teacher. They allowed me to and I was able to see that the school supplied their teachers with the necessary teaching tools to do a good job.

My current school, where I am very happy at, still expects me to teach trial students. However, they know that I expect to be informed well in advance so I can prepare for it. I also do a lot of independent lesson planning work – mostly because I like to improvise and tweak their curriculum to make it better – the school has always offered an extra teacher to assist me prepare if needed and has covered the cost of supplies and overtime.

There will be schools that are run poorly – even chain schools. Do your best to check things out before hand.

1 Like
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Your experiences sound fairly similar to mine in several ways… I definitely had the same kind of hassle with “trial students” showing up unannounced (by the staff, who had known they were coming for days). Luckily the staff would be the ones to make the photocopies etc, and would be very very apologetic about not having done it.

About teaching demos, what is generally expected? I had to do a 10 minute demo in my interview, but it was a group interview so I ended up teaching several Americans and Canadians about dogs & puppies, cats & kittens, sheep & lambs, etc. Gripping stuff.

Also, demos are illegal because of being on a tourist visa? Is it that you’re not supposed to be actively looking for employment? I totally understand you not wanting to advocate breaking the law, but are demos something that people actually get in trouble for?

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[quote=“dong bu ting”]Your experiences sound fairly similar to mine in several ways… I definitely had the same kind of hassle with “trial students” showing up unannounced (by the staff, who had known they were coming for days). Luckily the staff would be the ones to make the photocopies etc, and would be very very apologetic about not having done it.

About teaching demos, what is generally expected? I had to do a 10 minute demo in my interview, but it was a group interview so I ended up teaching several Americans and Canadians about dogs & puppies, cats & kittens, sheep & lambs, etc. Gripping stuff.

Also, demos are illegal because of being on a tourist visa? Is it that you’re not supposed to be actively looking for employment? I totally understand you not wanting to advocate breaking the law, but are demos something that people actually get in trouble for?[/quote]

yup, yup, and yup.

Demos are illegal period (the ONLY exception is if you have open work rights in Taiwan through a marriage or APRC, which I am pretty sure you won’t have). You can browse this site a bit and discover the people who have posted about their ejection from the island and banishment. Keep in mind those are just the few people who post, I am sure there are many more who have been kicked off and don’t post.

I have been here 1 year and 5 months. I have been teaching for 1 year and 4 months. My school has not been raided, nor have any of the other schools I have worked for. But the danger is real and so is the risk you take when doing a demo. It is simply a gamble. Mostly, schools get raided when a neighboring school has a tiff for whatever reason and snitches to the authorities or a disgruntled employee or ex-employee blows the whistle.

A lot of schools are now having you do a demo with other teachers/staff acting as students. I never saw this personally, but have heard of it. The vast majority will still require you to do a 10 to 15 minute demo with real live students…some longer of up to 30 minutes. If you don’t do the demo, chances are they will just move on to the next john or sue who is willing.

My advice, do what you feel is safe. Don’t do a demo for longer than 15 minutes. If you do a demo with students, do it in a classroom away from the public eye (ie: no street windows, etc). Tell the interviewer up front of your concerns of breaking the law, and request to do a “non-student” demo in front of them.

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[quote=“dong bu ting”]Your experiences sound fairly similar to mine in several ways… I definitely had the same kind of hassle with “trial students” showing up unannounced (by the staff, who had known they were coming for days). Luckily the staff would be the ones to make the photocopies etc, and would be very very apologetic about not having done it.

About teaching demos, what is generally expected? I had to do a 10 minute demo in my interview, but it was a group interview so I ended up teaching several Americans and Canadians about dogs & puppies, cats & kittens, sheep & lambs, etc. Gripping stuff.

Also, demos are illegal because of being on a tourist visa? Is it that you’re not supposed to be actively looking for employment? I totally understand you not wanting to advocate breaking the law, but are demos something that people actually get in trouble for?[/quote]

I agree that trial students are often handled horribly in Taiwan. Quarters’ experiences seem spot on with the reality here. It boggles my mind that they are trying to make a good impression on these kids but that they don’t consider that not letting you know and get prepared may make the school/teacher look disorganized/amateurish.

About demos - I refuse to do them now. I’ve been here long enough that when a school asks me to do one I ask them to simply ask my former employers how I’ve been as a teacher. How many times are you asked to demo back home for a job? How many Taiwanese are asked to demo for a job here? Exactly. Zero.

I understand why they ask but it’s still bullshit.

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[quote=“dong bu ting”]

  1. Is there a significant difference in the lesson-prep time demands teaching at Hess vs. your local Super Happy Kids Bunny Village School?

Thanks![/quote]

Try Global Village. Adults, little or no prep. Crappy pay, but damn man, the job is easy.

BTW, there is nothing wrong trying to make an easy buck. If a school wants a clown, be a clown. If they want a hardass, learn to be a hardass.

You’re only making yourself more marketable if you can do more than one style.

Good luck to you.

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[quote=“dong bu ting”]Anyway, I guess this is a two part question…

  1. Is there a significant difference in the lesson-prep time demands teaching at Hess vs. your local Super Happy Kids Bunny Village School?

  2. How much time do you generally spend on prep/grading/whatever?

Thanks![/quote]

  1. Can’t tell you much about the difference between them as my experience is limited to chain schools (Kojen, 2.5 years). Anyway, about the chain schools (well, Kojen a least): In terms of lesson prep time, obviously it becomes easier as you become more familiar with the particular school’s requirements. When I first started it would take me a long time to get anything prepped, whether a kids or adults class. After a while though, I could prep a 2 hour kids class in 10-20 minutes, and a 3 hour adult class in about 20-30 minutes. This was because Kojen had a very structured curriculum and (for the adult classs anyway) a wealth of materials (the quality and usefulness of which, however, varied greatly).

Usually on weekdays I would teach at least one 2 hour kids class followed by one 3 hour adult class. Then on Saturdays, usually a 3.5 hour adult class in the morning followed by two 2 hour kids “advanced” classes (read, disinterested, lethargic teenagers being forced to go to saturday afternoon classes when they’d much rather be jamming PS2 or online games…). Yep, Saturdays were killer, although I managed to arrange my schedule so that I was at least getting the afternoons off. (Why the hell did I stay there so long? Because I became so familiar with it (comfort zone…), it was a 2 minute walk from my apartment which beats scooter commuting, and I enjoyed teaching the adult classes. Still, I probably should’ve gone for something better.)

So, to answer question 2:
As I said, I managed to cut down my prep time to about 10-20 minutes per kids class, and 20-40 per adult class, depending on whether I just had to photocopy stuff, organise some flash cards and game bags, or whether I was gonna make some of my own materials. So, I would usually end up doing at least an hour of prep time per day mon-thurs, then about 2 hours (or more…) on fridays to prep for the saturday classes. Of course, I was not compensated for this time.

In terms of marking, upper level kids classes could be a nightmare. In the upper “K” classes, you would have to grade their homework books, and if you were unlucky enough to have a class of 24 kids, with 2 pages of sentence writing… Aarrrgghhhhhh. This could take hours, depending on how many kids classes you had. Again, this was unpaid. Adults didn’t really have much marking as such, unless it was a writing class, but you got paid more for those anyway.

So if you want to go the chain school route, it may be better to look for a school that teaches adults. Perhaps go with JDSmith’s suggestion of Global Village. I guess I could recommend the Kojen adult department to beginners, or those not looking to make a boatload of cash, or just have a less stressful job than managing a class full of of kids all hepped up on sugar-coated sweeties and chocolate toast. Although you will have to work on Saturdays, which is a real drag.

Bear in mind though that you will generally have to teach the adults and you can’t just be a clown like you might be able to at a small super joy bunny kids place.(…Or can you?)

Good luck with the job searching and the Chinese studies.

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If you want an absolute bare-minimum of work, let me suggest Gloria English Schoolin Taoyuan.

I was not satisfied working there. I hated the cookie-cutter approach and I found their material to be outdated and often inappropriate. Worse still, a manager actually told me that if I had to choose between entertaining the kids or educating them, they would prefer I entertain.

HOWEVER, the pay was ok, there was very little pressure, and there was no homework to grade. The Chinese teachers took care of all phone calls, paperwork, and everything outside of class. And of course, it was supremely easy to “wing” a class. Considering how repetitive the classes were, I could “plan” (read: choose what games to play in what order) in about 5 minutes.

I didn’t do that much, I preferred to work more education into the lesson, but it was that easy.

For what you’re looking for, the biggest problem will be being sent to 3 or 4 different branches. But if you only want 14 hours instead of 20 you might be able to get them to send you to just 2 branches.

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[quote=“trapjaw”]
In terms of marking, upper level kids classes could be a nightmare. In the upper “K” classes, you would have to grade their homework books, and if you were unlucky enough to have a class of 24 kids, with 2 pages of sentence writing… Aarrrgghhhhhh. This could take hours, depending on how many kids classes you had. Again, this was unpaid. Adults didn’t really have much marking as such, unless it was a writing class, but you got paid more for those anyway.

So if you want to go the chain school route, it may be better to look for a school that teaches adults. Perhaps go with JDSmith’s suggestion of Global Village. I guess I could recommend the Kojen adult department to beginners, or those not looking to make a boatload of cash, or just have a less stressful job than managing a class full of of kids all hepped up on sugar-coated sweeties and chocolate toast. Although you will have to work on Saturdays, which is a real drag. [/quote]

I have had the opposite experience with Kojen so far. Every class I teach, from M1 to K12 and A4 all require me to grade homework. Each class requires three types of homework each night. Vocabulary and Sentence Pattern copying, Handouts and exercise books for the M’s and K’s, Compositions, vocab sentence writing, and Handouts for the A’s. Three kinds of homework times 18-23 kids in class. Two, or sometimes three, classes in a day. All of which is unpaid time. I agree, the lesson prep takes usually less than an hour, although at my school you’re expected to craft two or three handouts from scratch for the HFE classes, and at least one for the TU classes, and a couple for the A classes. But the homework will eat away at your very soul.

I can’t speak for Global village, but I definitely don’t recommend Kojen for someone looking to not put in a lot of unpaid hours.